i have a lcd HITACHI 60V500A and i turned it on yesterday and it has quite a red color tone to it. All the color settings are to normal and i have tried adjusting it but it still has a red tone to the picture. It is out of warranty. had it repaired once for a broken relay during warranty. Does this sound like a bulb problem? Is it something i can change myself?
okay i am screwed. I am 3 monthe out of warranty and the light engine has gone. I tried to get hitachi to warranty it so they sent me to thier service dealer in my area . They gave me a quote for $1900 . Yes i feel on my you know what when they told me. the service guy said off the record they have a problem with that, I called hitachi and they only want to pay $300 towards repair. They said they do not have a problem with the light engine. Can anyone give me any info or a webpage i could argue my case. I have been trying to talk to a supervisor for a couple days. I heard there was a tech bulliten on this problem ?
light engine1900 bulb installed 1000 they make more of parts than the tv.i will have to go back to tube tv . The tach guy said alot of plasma coming back with repairs $2-3000 . These tv are not reliable . I never even thought about it when i bought it.i had a 32" and a 21" hitachi tube tv for 10 and 6 years no problem . Oh yes i forgot to tell you i had 2 problems under warranty with my 50v500 .
Any suggestions thanks
Perrey Z.
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It's clear these V500A micro displays have serious quality problems., you're not the first one and i'm certain you won't be the last to report such inconviniences with this particular series.
Write a letter to Hitachi America let them know how dissatisfied you are with the quality of their product., mention you're aware this is not an isolated incident, and many other owners had experienced similar problems with their sets. Ask them for a solution that won't cost you a lot of money.
Good luck!
Marty Frank
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I have had the same problem happen with my Hitachi 60V500A. It has a red glow and halos' around the text. I was also told that it is a problem with the light engine. The unit is only 18 months old so I am in a similar position as you. I am considering a lawsuit against Hitachi. We have fairly decent "Lemon Laws" here in Florida. I am waiting until tomorrow (8-3-05) for Hitachi to tell me if they will fix the problem or not. If they do not fix it I will procede with moving forward on forcing them to acknowledge this defect. I will start a new thread on this forum by weeks end if this is not resolved to my satisfaction. If things are resolved, I will leave another post in this forum to let you know how I made out.
steven, I had the same problem with my Hitachi 50v500. After only 4 months I had a pink or reddeish tone to it. I have the extended warranty through CC but since it hadn't been a year Hitachi was supposed to warranty the t.v. The tech came out and ended up taking my t.v to the shop. After a week I called the shop to see what was taking so long. They said they were waiting on parts. This went on for a couple of weeks and I called CC to see if they could speed things up or at least have the tech call me back. The tech called me back and told me that he felt the problem was the light engine but that Hitachi wanted him to try some different things. Four months later, After making CC rent me a big screen t.v, I finally had my t.v. back. The tech said Hitachi had him reset some codes and this fixed the problem. It worked fine for about 4 or 5 months and then strarted the same thing. CC sent out another tech who told my wife that the fist company tech just performed a temorary fix and that he would have to do the same thing untill the light engine comes in which by the way is on back order untill Jan. 31, 2006. Well of course I was going to raise hell with CC or Hitachi for not telling me this the first time. When I called CC they transferred me to the escalation dept. They didn't put up a fight at all. Before I said it they informed me they would replace my t.v. I'm not an angry person but I really feel Hitachi had the first tech perform this temp fix so that hopefully for them I would be past my warranty. If I didn't buy the extended warranty I'd be screwed. The second tech knew what he was doing and he also comented to my wife that this was a big problem with the Hitachis. I know this doesn't help much but I know there are more people out there like you and me. I can't tell you what the tech did to temp fix the problem but on the paperwork it said that he reset the memory. This seemed to help but I can still notice the red tint just not as bad. You might be able to try that if you can figure out how. I know there was a posting somewhere on this board last year that someone explained how to get to the factory menu. If I run across it I'll post it here for you.
Hi All, Good News. This is a follow up to my previous post above. Even though my 60V500A is six months out of warranty, I was informed by Hitachi that they will replace the light engine at no cost to me. I think that they realize that there is a definate problem with their light engine design/manufacturing process. I spoke with the tech that is working on my set and he said that the red glow problem I was having is unlike anything he had seen before (as in, not the same problem Sony and some other LCD Projection TV's have). He said that the red LCD panel was defective and did not function correctly. The image it produced was blurred. I know this is true because if you enter the setup mode you can display each of the colors individually and the grid for the red LCD was blurry in the middle. In fact it was so blurry that the grid was not even apperant in the middle of the screen. By the way, you can enter the setup mode (for those of you reading the post above this) by pressing and holding the Input button while turning the power button on. But you must turn on the TV from a cold state, meaning you can't just turn it off and back on again. Let it cycle all the way off and then hold it until the red leds on the front turn off and then release it. (at least I think it is the Input button, it is the second button from the right, I don't have my TV currently to check :-). Be sure you don't change anything that you are not sure about and ALWAYS write down the settings before changing them. Anyway, I am very happy that Hitachi has stood behind their product and will fix my set. This was one of the original reasons I purchased Hitachi in the first place. I have had experience with them before and they have always backed up their products. This reconfirms my confidence in them. My only concern is whether or not the same problem will appear in another 12-18 months or if they have fixed the problem for good. As to the length of time it will take to fix my set?, I truely don't think that it will be until January of 2006 for Hitachi to be able to produce a light engine for my set. It is possible that the light engines will not be available to third party vendors until then. That would be my guess. Third party vendors are those "extended warranty" people everyone tries to sell when you purchase your set. I believe that if you contact Hitachi directly, you will be in better hands. I will keep you posted as to the amount of time my repair takes.
Amb
Unregistered guest
Posted on
Help, I have a CL 37 PD 2100 plasma Tv , which is locked on standby, and keeps blowing the fuse every time I try to turn it on. Any one have any ideas.
Val Lombardo
Unregistered guest
Posted on
My son turned our Hitachi off from remote, now we cannot turn the set back on, remote or manual. Are there any resets (ie for satellites, dvd players) that will internally fix this problem?
Hi Marty: You mentioned that Hitachi was going to replace your light engine and then you said that the Red LCD panel was faulty. Are these two seperate issues or will the Light Engine fix the faulty panel? Is it possible that the Red LCD panel is the only thing that needs replacing?
The Red LCD panel is a part of the light engine so there is only one issue with my unit. The Light Engine is made up of three LCD panels (Red, Green and Blue), some mirrors and lenses. The light from the bulb is split into three paths that pass through each LCD panel individually. Then the images are recombined to produce the image on the screen. It appears that the Red LCD panel is the problem. I do not think that the individual LCD panels can be replaced easily so therefor they change out the whole unit.
The good news is that the repair facility said that they have received the light engine and they should have my TV fixed by today. They will deliver it back to me on Tuesday (08/30/05). All in all, the repair process has taken about a month. I will post again once I receive the TV to keep you updated.
Thanks for the good info. I have the same problem so now I know I'm looking at the Engine. I just put a call in today to Hitachi Canada but they haven't got back to me.
Thanks again, Mel
HDDD
Unregistered guest
Posted on
Hello everyone, I have the same problem with my 60V500 - looks like Hitachi really has a defective part with these projection TV's. MANY MANY people have had this same problem. Luckily I still have my extended warrant and the light engine is being replaced for free. I've read on some other forums that Hitachi no longer replaces the light engine with a new unit - but instead uses a refirbished light engine?? Makes me nervous that I'm going to get some unit that has LCD panels with 50,000 hours on it - anyone else heard about this? I've also heard that the replacement unit has had some changes made to it - runs cooler and quiter and isn't defective like the original units in these TV's. Anyway, just wondering if anyone has anymore information on this. Wish I would have known about this defect before I bought the TV. It's very frusterating not knowing if the replacement engine is just going to do the same thing a year down the road. Thanks, HDDD
Anonymous
Posted on
Hi everyone, I have a similar problem. Just the other day our less than 3 years old Hitachi 43" FDX20 started showing multiple images in red, green and yellow. I been searching the web and noticed that many people are having the same problem which seems to be a convergence defect. So much for Magic Focus and Hitachi. Any suggestions as what I should do now? I have called Hitachi and am waiting for a service Technician to call me. I asked the customer service rep at Hitachi Canada if others are having similar problems he said he didn't think so (Ha).
After a few calls back and forth Hitachi Canada has offered to pay for the Light Engine ($800 US in Canada) if I pay for the installation ($160 US). The tech told me that the filter should be cleaned every one to two years depending on the dust in your enviroment or it could reoccur. They denied having a chronic engine problem. That would mean I would have to pay for a service call every 1 and half. Doesn't sit well with me.
Mel
carmy671
Unregistered guest
Posted on
Yup, same thing with me. I bought Hitachi 50V500 about 6 months ago. The light engine went bad there is a green round light that appears when opened and constantly stays there until the TV closes. I too am scared after it gets replacement months down the road it happens again. Also heard they might use refurnished (used) part and it might happen again especially in dusty areas and it needs cleaning. I am little uphappy with Hitachi.
Here is an update. Today is September 20th so my Hitachi 60V500A has been in the shop for a little over 6 weeks. The reason for the delay (as best as I can determine) is that when they received the replacement light engine and installed it, the replacement engine blew out two other circuit boards (a driver board and power board I think). Now, I am not clear if this was due to an incorrect installation on the techs behalf or just a bad light engine that shorted everything out. I will try to get clarification on this. On my last call to the shop on Sept 14th they had installed two replacement boards and re-installed the old light engine and they said that they are basically back to where they were when they picked the TV up from me in the first place. Now they needed to call Hitachi customer care to determine the next steps. I will keep you posted
I am not sure whether or not Hitachi is raplacing my light engine with a new or refurbished unit. However, I was assured by Hitachi that the "red glow" problem would "never be a problem again". Using your statistics it would be unrealistic to assume 50,000 hours on a refurbished light engine since these where first introduced in 2003 (but I know what you are trying to say).
To put it in perspective lets look at it this way: At 24hrs a day/356yr you only have 8760 hours per year, In doing some quick research it seems fair to say that the mtbf (mean time between failures) for LCD panels is about 50,000 hrs. The mtfb for your old CRT style television tube is 30,000 hrs. If the average "on time" for your LCD TV is 4hrs per day then you should be able to enjoy the set for almost 34 years (that is of course if nothing else breaks).
Having worked in computers for many years I can tell you that using refurbished parts is a common practice in warranty service. I can also tell you that the refurbished light engines are probably being used by after market warranty services to help cut costs, not necessarily because there are no new ones available. Either way, I would not worry too much about if the part is refubished as long as it was refurbished by Hitachi.